Reinhard Feldmeier, the author of the article, tries to teach and convince the readers about the disparities between the old and the New Testament regarding ethical teaching. He seems to be swayed on the New Testament side and mainly opposed to the Old Testament’s view of love and justice. He notes that both Jewish tradition and Hellenistic philosophy rallies for imitation of God when it comes to ethical teachings (Feldmeier, 2016).
Consequently, throughout the article, Feldmeier crusades for the popularity and validity of ‘correspondence’ form of ethical teaching is New Testament in which beatific love, mercy, and compassion provide a moral compass for human conduct and justice, as opposed to Old Testament where law and imitation of God are rallied for. He criticizes the books of Leviticus for having only two passages that demand one to live following God's holiness (Leviticus 19: 2, 11:44-45). Additionally, Feldmeier argues that in the entire Old Testament, there is no comparable way showing how the attributes of God is the foundation of divine commandments. In summary, the author was trying present New Testament as the better portrayer of God love and justice as compared to the Old Testament (Feldmeier, 2016). Was the author successful? Yes, to some extent I do buy the author's line of argument. Feldmeier brought out his argument with clarity, persuasion, emphasis and supported by scriptural evidence.
Reinhard Feldmeier’s analysis and conclusions are supported by clear and extensive scriptural evidence. He gives scriptures for reference at every point of his arguments and conclusions. For instance, when talking about God’s mercy, on page 8, he quotes Isaiah and Luke severally. This can be noted throughout the article.
References
Feldmeier, R. (2016). "As your Heavenly Father is Perfect" The God of The Bible and Commendments in The Bible. Journal of the Bible and Theology, 431-444.
